ntments under it--Loans asked to construct
Railways--All who received incomes from land should be
taxed--Deputation from the Royal Agricultural Society to the Lord
Lieutenant--They ask reproductive employment--Lord Bessborough
answers cautiously--The Prime Minister writes to the Duke of
Leinster on the subject--Views expressed--Defence of his Irish
Famine policy--Severe on the Landlords--Unsound principles laid down
by him--Corn in the haggards--Mary Driscoll's little stack of
barley--Second Deputation from the Royal Agricultural Society to the
Lord Lieutenant--Its object--Request not granted--The Society
lectured on the duties of its Members--Real meaning of the
answer--Progress of the Famine--Deaths from starvation--O'Brien's
Bridge--Rev. Dr. Vaughan--Slowness of the Board of Works--State of
Tuam--Inquest on Denis M'Kennedy--Testimony of his Wife--A
Fortnight's Wages due to him--Received only half-a-crown in three
weeks--Evidence of the Steward of the Works; of Rev. Mr. Webb; of
Dr. Donovan--Remarks of Rev. Mr. Townsend--Verdict--The _Times_ on
the duties of landlords--Landlords denounce the Government and the
Board of Works--Mr. Fitzgerald on the Board and on the
farmers--Meeting at Bandon--Lord Bernard--Inquest on Jeremiah
Hegarty--The Landlord's "cross" on the barley--Mary Driscoll's
evidence; her husband's--_Post mortem_ examination by Dr.
Donovan--The Parish Priest of Swinford--Evictions--The _Morning
Chronicle_ on them--Spread and Increase of Famine--The question of
providing coffins--Deaths at Skibbereen--Extent of the Famine in
1846--Deaths in Mayo--Cases--Edward M'Hale--Skibbereen--The diary of
a day--Swelling of the extremities--Burning beds for fuel--Mr.
Cummins's account of Skibbereen--Killarney Relief Committee--Father
O'Connor's Statement--Christmas Eve!--A Visit to Skibbereen twenty
years after the great Famine.

As events progressed, the landlords of Ireland appeared to grow more and
more alarmed, not so much for the people as for themselves; and they
held meetings and passed resolutions, censuring the Government for the
mode which it had chosen of counteracting the Famine. The Government
and its organs returned the compliment by pointing out the inaction and
obstructive policy of the landlords.

At those meetings it was invariably one of the resolutions, that labour
should be employe